How'd we end up here?
by Rubiie
Summary: After being exiled to Ceti Alpha 5, Marla McGivers reflects on her life leading up to the day she met John Harrison, her Starfleet days and the life she has left behind. Captain Kirk meets a mysterious stranger with a thirst for power. Khan/McGivers possible Khan/Kirk
1. She meets him

Marla could remember the day exactly when she had first seen John Harrison. She had been coming back from a history lesson, The Eugenic wars, to be precise. Her friends chatted to her excitedly about their lessons, who was hooking up with who, who was the hottest cadet there. She wasn't paying attention; all she could think about was how stuffy the men of today were, they were too uptight and boring. Everything was to regulation if you were in Star fleet or not, everything had to be prim and proper.

She wasn't watching where she was going causing her to bump into someone. "Excuse me," Marla said as she bent down to pick up her books. Her eyes flicked upwards to look at the man she bumped in to and her breath caught in her throat. He was gorgeous. Not in a traditional sense, or cookie cutter male model but gorgeous in his own way. He was average height but he was lean, causing him to appear taller than he already was and slicked back dark hair. He handed Marla one of her books.

"Moby Dick," he said. "Oh lord," Marla thought. His voice was sexy _and _he'sBritish. The only downside was the uniform. It was clear by the badges on his breast and shoulder strap that he was somewhere high up on the Starfleet ladder, not someone who should be fraternizing with lowly cadets.

"One of my favourites," He said, handing her back the rest of her books before standing and straightening his uniform. Marla stood there with her mouth open, she was sure she looked like a fish. "Miss," the man said, nodding at her before walking away. Marla turned to her friends, Carol Marcus stood there with her eyebrows raised in surprise, Christine Chapel looked positively delighted.

* * *

"I think Christine is planning your wedding." Carol said to Marla, jogging to keep up with her pace.

"She's not!" Marla retorted, pushing open the door from the main campus of Star Fleet to outside. It was a hot day: plenty of students milling about outside or lounging under trees for a bit of shade from the California heat.

"Ladies," Jim Kirk addressed them, going the opposite way up the stairs from them. His eyes lingered slightly on Carol, who rolled her eyes in disgust.

"He makes my skin crawl," Carol said, noting the look Marla and Christine were giving her. "Honestly, he is such a creep, first with _you"_ she pointed to Christine. "Look I'm sorry but he's a womanizer and a complete imbecile."

"Oh you're British has popped out again," Marla said. She turned to Christine, "Anyway, don't worry about it, we all have the person we regret being with and yours is-"

"James Tiberius Kirk," Christine said.

"Yeah, but hey that Vulcan commander – eh? Pretty cute!" Marla said, elbowing Christine in the rips playfully.

"Or that doctor." Carol added.

"Ok stop!" Christine yelled. "We are talking about that guy that Marla bumped in to. You know tall, dark mysterious and brooding?"

"Oh please like I'd ever have a chance with him!"

"When was the last time you had a boyfriend?" Christine asked her, Marla fell silent. "Exactly that is why we need you to casually bump into Mr British Man again!"

* * *

However weeks went past and Christine and Carol dropped the subject of Mr British man entirely. And for a while Marla had forgotten about him too, there was far too much stuff she had to do: history exams for starters and an essay that was at least two weeks overdue. Painting was just much more entertaining for her at the moment. Right now she was painting a portrait of Alexander the Great, strewn around her room were reference pictures of Alexander's bust and various reliefs. Alongside the various splotches of paint and clothes thrown about, it was no wonder her old roommate had decided to move out. Marla didn't mind however, it gave her more room to do her work and was certainly a lot quieter. Her first roommate had been an Orion, and due to the conflicting personalities in less than 3 weeks the Orion had moved out. Her second roommate had been a complete fanatic about cleanliness and punctuality, installing a daily router for cleaning the room, alarm times and even going so far as allotted bathroom times, Marla's was considerably smaller than her roommates. Star Fleet had given up completely with the roommate situation.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and was just about to pick up one of her brushes when Christine burst through the room.

"I have gossip!" She announced jumping onto the spare bed.

Marla put down her brush and sat on the opposite bed. "What's this?"

"Gaila and Jim."

"Ok? No offense but why should I care and why are you so happy about that?"

"Because! Uhura found them in her room and kicked him out in his boxers-"

"Ooh, his _boxers_."

"Shut up!" Christine said, throwing a pillow into Marla's face. "Anyway, he got kicked out and you know Uhura hates Jim more than I do. My point is that it was Gaila, one of the biggest flirts going on campus. Oh do you think he caught something off her? Like space herpes?"

"Oh my god that is gross!" Marla said jumping up from her bed and walking away. "Why would you want him to get space herpes?"

"He told everyone about me. Plus he passed that video around of me talking about Commander Spock, so yes. I would like it if it hurt him every time he went to the bathroom."

"Does herpes burn when you pee?" Marla asked, going to her mini fridge and getting iced coffee out and two clean cups, making sure there was absolutely no paint water in them before filling both of the cups. She handed one to Christine and sat back down on the bed.

"I don't know. I sure hope it does though." Christine replied taking a sip of her drink.

"You can be rather sadistic at times you know. You can be rather scary. Are you sure that bio research even is for you? I wouldn't trust you with weaponized small pox."

"Bitch please, I'd make something better than small pox. But I don't know. Do you remember my fiancé?"

"I remember stories about him." It was a bit of a touchy subject, no one really knew what had happened between the two of them, but no one really wanted to ask. There had been speculations floating around for ages, but after Christine had had a shouting match with one of the other cadets about "keeping your fat ass out of other people's buisness" the subject had been dropped.

"Well, I was thinking that I'd change. Give up the bio research for now. Because star fleet doesn't have that much of a window for bio researches on the ships. I was thinking that if I became a nurse I could go and maybe find Roger."

"That's a very big if. The universe is huge, how will you know where to look?"

"I don't. But that's half the fun isn't it? Going out and seeing new worlds? It'll be an adventure!"

* * *

The next time she saw him was at Kirk's hearing. He was sitting close to Admiral Marcus on the high bench. He hadn't said anything the whole time the hearing was going on, but his eyes were boring into Kirk. When Jim said he didn't believe in no win situations his mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly, as if he was trying to fight back a smile. Maybe he liked defiance, not following star fleet regulation to the letter like everyone else did, she admired that.

"My god," she thought to herself. "Before he was just ok, but he's fucking gorgeous." He had an air of arrogance about him, just enough however so it seemed more like confidence unlike Kirk who believed he was better than everyone else.

"Cadets, report to hanger 1 immediately." Admiral Barnett said, standing up. The rest of the admirals followed him out of the room. The cadets stood up too.

Marla found Carol walking quickly to the exit where the admirals had gone through. She grabbed the blonde by the arm. "Carol, where are you going?"

"He won't let me on the ships Marla. I'm desperate to get out there, all my life I've been stuck here or in England. He's a control freak and I'll be damned before I see the Enterprise have its maiden voyage without me. He can't rule my life forever." Carol said, shrugging out of Marla's grip before turning quickly on her heel to go and find her father.

"What?" Marla said out loud.

"Her father is an overbearing presence in her life. It's what caused her mother to decide to raise her in England." A voice said behind her. Marla turned around, it was him, sure enough.

"I…um." She stammered. Typical, her mouth wasn't forming coherent words and her brain had turned to mush. "He's near me." She thought. "Oh god he's standing near me, what do I do?"

He stuck out his hand, "John Harrison," He said with a smile. She stared at him for a moment before he said: "And yours?"

"Marla McGivers." She spat out too quickly for him to understand. She took a breath. "Marla McGivers sir."

"There is no need for honorific titles between us." He stuck his hand out. Tentatively Marla took it and they shook hands.

"You should be in the hanger, Marla. Otherwise you won't know your post." He said to her before dropping her hand and walking away.

"Ok." She said, flabbergasted.

* * *

Well that's the first chapter done and out of the way. I hope you guys like it! Remember, the more you review the faster I update. So please review with any constructive criticisms or just anything really!


	2. He meets him

Hey hey people! Well I've talked to Zeynel and I've decided that this fic is not going to be just about Marla and Khan because, you know, Marla. It's got Kirk in it too!

Also, yes, the storyline doesn't expressly follow the storylines for the movies, but hey! That's fanfiction plus I thought it'd work better.

* * *

Kirk POV

_John Harrison_. He searched through the records; there was practically nothing on him before a couple of months ago. There was the standard birth place, height, age, weight, but nothing about how John had managed to become a high ranking member in Star Fleet. Jim sighed and put the records back. Admiral Pike was never short with Jim, ever. But when Jim had walked into his office earlier with the strange man standing, not sitting in front of Pike's desk… it was odd. Pike looked nervous, like the man had been threatening him perhaps?

Jim turned around and walked out of the records hall. John Harrison, Pike had introduced them, John was British, obviously, the badges on his shirt and shoulders were neat and polished to perfection. His eyes seemed cold, almost calculating but he seemed wise as well. When they shook hands Jim noticed that John gripped his hand not simply holding it like it was a dead weight like most people did. John was a secure person, confident in himself. He articulated his words perfectly not just because of his accent but his overall personality from what Jim had seen.

But that was it. Jim had never heard of John or seen him before Pike's office. They had been introduced and Pike had shooed Jim out of his office, telling him to come back in a few hours. Something was niggling Jim that something bad was going to happen.

Jim came back to his dorm, Bones sitting at one of the desks, his head down, reading.

"Hey Bones," Jim said, Bones looked at him, raising an eyebrow as if to say "I'm busy". "Do you know any of the British star fleet? Any transfers going on?"

"No." Bones said, looking bored. "Why? Don't tell me there's some star fleet officer from England has taken your fancy."

"No, no, not at all."

"Don't lie to me Jim."

Jim crossed the room, dropping onto his bed, "No Bones. There isn't. I promise you."

* * *

The Kobayashi Maru. The unbeatable test that no one had ever won. People usually only took it once and that was bad enough. Jim had taken it twice already, soon to be three times. The first time that Jim had taken it he believed that it was just his own incompetence and nerves, but now he was sure that it was the test itself, every cadet said the same thing, there was no way of winning against the Klingon war birds. Jim needed a plan, he was determined to win this, he had to. Just to prove the Star Fleet wrong, that sometimes you needed to take rules and regulations and stick them where the sun doesn't shine, because you can be sure as hell that the Klingons don't obey rules. The Klingons have one motivation: honour. And leaving a fellow ship to certain death would mean less honour, cowardice even, than rescuing the ship and the crew and potentially endangering yourself.

He just needed a plan, something to change the programme. But he didn't know, most of the people who worked with the computers were men and the computers were practically unhackable. Jim sat there, his head down on his desk in the library. He sighed loudly, sat back up and rubbed his eyes. Jim closed one of the telescreens he was using, "hints and tips for the Kobayashi Maru" his ass. The strategies they talked about was absolutely shit, none of them worked. There was no information on Klingon warbirds, how to get the Kobayashi without completely destroying your ship, no protocol, nothing.

"James Kirk?" A voice said. Jim jumped and turned around. It was John Harrison standing there in his formal Star Fleet uniform, his hands behind his back.

"Keeping up apperances?" Jim said, looking the other man up and down.

"I am…asked to join Admiral Marcus in a meeting." John replied.

Jim raised an eyebrow. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"I have heard you are attempting the Kobayashi Maru again."

"You heard right."

"This will be the third time you've attempted the test." Jim glared at him. "I admire your determinism." John continued.

"I don't believe in no win scenarios."

"Admirable but not completely true. However like I said before I admire your integrity. Here." John passed him a PADD. "It's a cheat patch," he whispered, "go to the computer lab, there's an Orion girl who has been eyeing you for several days now." John said quickly, Jim half turned around to look at the computer labs behind him, there was an Orion in there lazily typing something up on her computer. "Don't look at her!" John hissed; Jim turned his attention back to him. "Go in to the lab, talk to her, gain her trust. Link this to the computer and send her an email with this code embedded into it. She's been working on the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Send it to her and the code will be in her computer allowing you access to the programme to change it."

Jim looked up at him, confused. "Wait, why would you help me?"

"Because I like your determination."

"What should I send the Orion-"

"Gaila." John interrupted. "Her name is Gaila. She's known around the computer lab for bringing men back to her room, I doubt it would be hard for you to gain access to her…computer."

"Oh."

John still had the PADD in his hands. Jim reached out tentatively but drew his hand back. "Why should I trust you? Is this a test?"

John shook his head. "Consider it a favour."

"A favour would imply that I would be in your debt."

"Well, perhaps." John smiled wickedly.

Jim scoffed, "So you do want a favour from me? What do you want?"

"Nothing. Yet. However I would one day like a favour from you." He dropped the PADD onto Jim's desk. "So do keep that in mind." He walked away, leaving Jim standing there.

* * *

John was there at Jim's hearing. Why was he? Sure he was far up in Star Fleet, but only the admirals needed to be there. Jim hadn't seen Harrison since that day in Pike's office but sure enough he was there, Admiral Marcus kept looking at him from the corner of his eye. Why was Marcus keeping an eye on Harrison? But Jim couldn't concentrate on that, they were discussing his future at Star Fleet. He was being grilled by some Vulcan with the nerve to bring his father into this.

Jim turned his head towards the commander, "I don't believe in no win scenarios." He said blatantly, he could see just the smallest hint of a smile from Harrison.

The hearing carried on like that, the admirals bickering between themselves and Jim trying to maintain his composure. He was panicking under the surface, had Harrison known that doing this would get him caught? John must have known. Jim glanced over at John; John stared at him, his face giving away nothing. Maybe it was a test. Oh shit. Jim had taken a cheat patch from a high ranking member of star fleet because they thought that he was a cocky bastard and he was going to be kicked out and _shit_.

One of the doors opened, a man came through walking up to Admiral Barnett and handed him a PADD. Barnett stared at it for a few seconds before handing it back to the man and standing up. "There is a distress call from Vulcan," He addressed them, "All cadets report to hanger one immediately." He exited through one of the doors behind the Admirals podium, the other admirals following suit.

Jim turned around, most of the cadets had already left, Bones was making his way down to where Jim was standing and a blonde girl had ran after Admiral Marcus, whatever that was for. Jim turned around, glaring hard at Harrison who was talking to one of the other cadets. She left quickly, glancing over her shoulder at him before following the other cadets. Jim stormed up to Harrison.

"Did you know that I would get caught?" He asked him angrily.

"I assumed you would but that is the price you have to pay if you want to win an unbeatable test."

"Why did you give it to me in the first place if you knew I'd get in trouble?"

John blinked his face completely blank. "Star Fleet needs to recognize that they are not as invincible as they would like to believe they are. Some things are unbeatable however they need to recognize that not everything can be protocolled and packaged away neatly. There are some things in the universe that are reckless, an indestructible force that can and will take power when leaders are weak. I did what I did because it is necessary." John said, turning away and leaving Jim and Bones standing together in the room.

"Well, he's an asshole." Bones said.

"I know."

* * *

It came as a surprise for Jim when little over a year later from the Enterprise's maiden voyage that John Harrison was linked to an explosion in London. Several people had been killed but at the most he had blown up _a library._ Something didn't sit right with Jim. Why of all places that you could chose as a terrorist site would you pick a library. Jim messed about with his PADD. Zooming in on the CCTV image of John Harrison leaving the bomb site, carrying something with him, Jim turned the angle of the image, looking at what Harrison had bundled into a car.

Without warning, Harrison had opened fire on some of the most important Star Fleet members, killing several, including Pike. Jim had managed to destroy Harrison's ship, but he had gotten away before Jim could get to him. Harrison smiled at Jim slightly; it irked Jim not to be able to make Harrison pay for his actions against Star Fleet. Only after Harrison had gone did Jim find out that Pike was dying. Harrison would get a favour from his alright, he would kill him, make him feel the pain that he had felt when Pike had died in his arms. Jim's ship had been taken from him; the only person remotely like a father to him was gone too. Everything was being taken from him. He would find Harrison and bring him back to Star Fleet but not before causing him extreme pain, this would be his favour to Harrison.

* * *

Harrison beamed down onto the planet Kronos, a harsh part of the planet where there weren't any Klingons to bother him. Not that he would be there long; he knew that Kirk would come after him. Jim was playing right into Admiral Marcus' trap. He would be stranded on the edge of Klingon space, his warp drive would be shot, the torpedoes with his family in them. He could get his family to safety, beam aboard Marcus' ship and take it over, then beam his family aboard. All he wanted was for his family to be safe and Marcus' was using his family against him. The man had to die. He was no better a man than his 20th century counterparts. And they said that the human race had evolved since then.

* * *

I said I was going to write Marla getting assigned to the enterprise but I'm lazy and decided that that would be explored in the next chapter instead. So yep, she'll be part of the crew that examines khan and then she'll be all infatuated with him and Krik will also be infatuated but at first he thinks its anger but then it turns into lust!

I hope you guys like this chapter, I liked writing it better than the first one! Also please review!


	3. The fight

Her stomach dropped as she heard her name read out. "Marla McGivers, Enterprise." The Enterprise, one of the best ships in the fleet and she was assigned to it. Sure she could see herself assigned to the Farragut, but the Enterprise? She couldn't believe it. Christine turned to her, excitedly.

"Enterprise!" She said in a hush tone as though she thought the mere name revered.

"I know!" Marla squealed. The two looked at each other, grinning before hugging one another tightly.

"Ah, it'll be great! The three of us together in space! Exploring galaxies no one has seen before, meeting new species-"

"Make that two of us." Carol said sadly. The other two turned to look at her.

"What do you mean Carol?" Marla asked.

"My name wasn't read out for the Enterprise. Or any other ship for that matter. My father was right; he doesn't want me to go into space. He said it's too dangerous." Carol smiled weakly. "It's ok, you two go on without me. I could work and test some prototypes. Maybe soon I'll be able to join you."

Christine rolled her eyes, "That's ridiculous! You're a grown woman you should be allowed to make your own choices! Can't you make him see sense?! You're a brilliant weapons specialist, any ship would be lucky to have you! We need you with us! Can't we smuggle you on board somehow?"

"I'm afraid not, The Enterprise is Captain Pike's ship. It would be difficult for me to get on board and even then it would be a challenge to keep my presence on the ship unnoticed by Pike. He'd tell my father and," Carol sighed, running a hand through her hair from nerves; "he'd drag my ass back here and give me the bollocking of a lifetime."

"You swore!" Marla noted.

"Yes, well, we English tend to do that when we're stressed. But honestly, you guys go off without me, I'll be fine here." Carol said, wiping her eyes before hugging both of her friends. Christine and Marla smiled at her before climbing up the ramp to the shuttle.

* * *

Carol wandered around the weapons lab aimlessly for half an hour before finally deciding on looking at some blue prints for a new ship. She examined it closely; it was to be much, much larger than the Enterprise, it would be the new flag-ship for Star Fleet and was to be largely automated allowing for a smaller crew than the Enterprise as well.

A Star fleet member walked up to her. "Are you authorized to look at those blueprints?" Carol glanced up, it was John Harrison. Slowly she closed them, leaving the screen blank, not breaking eye contact with John.

"I am Admiral Marcus' daughter-"

"That doesn't answer my question, are you authorized to access to these files?"

"Yes. I have doctorate in applied physics." Carol said blatantly, "And I specialize in advanced weaponry which I believe those files were. Am I correct?"

John rolled his eyes. "Understandably I should give you respect as you are an admiral's daughter and a member of star fleet. However on a personal level; I don't like you."

Carol stood there in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"I don't like you as you have a constant wish to disobey your father. He is right; space is dangerous particularly for his only daughter. Of course he, as a father, would wish that you remain where he can watch over you. As an admiral's daughter if you were taken captive by an alien race you would make an excellent bargaining piece."

"Are you calling me a risk?"

"I am simply stating the obvious. I have looked at your records, you are very gifted in the way of weaponized technology and applied physics and your father has given you countless chances to look at files and blue prints that most star fleet members would only dream of. You are in fact, very pampered."

"I am not!"

"You are. You were raised in London judging by your accent, your personal appearance is near on flawless which suggests that you spend a lot of time on your makeup and hair, so you were very feminine growing up. Access to nearly all records of star fleet records, horse riding lessons – Pike mentioned that, the best schools in London and by one of the pictures on Admiral Marcus' desk, you go on regular holidays to some of the more exotic locations the galaxies have to offer. So please, tell me why life isn't fair for you when your father doesn't allow you to go into space in the middle of a distress call from Vulcan. It's. Too. Dangerous."

They stood there in silence, the two of them sizing each other up, refusing to break eye contact. After what seemed an eternity, John spoke.

"Your father loves you more than you realize. Loosing you would end him. He only wants to keep you safe."

"Then why won't he allow me to be my own person and let me make my own mistakes?" Carol asked, moving a piece of hair out of her face. Silence and then:

"Admiral Marcus_ is _letting you be your own person."

"Within reason."

"Within reason." John said nodding in agreement.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's fine. It was my fault for intruding I suppose. "

"You suppose?"

John raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes."

"Unbelievable."

* * *

It had been several years since Jim had let Bones smuggle him on to the Enterprise and he had become captain. They had been on countless missions already, big or small. Jim hadn't lost any of his crewmen and despite what Pike had said to him he did respect the chair. Most people thought that Jim was a carefree devil may hinder person but he wasn't. He cared a lot about his crew and every decision that he made had an impact on everyone on board.

Should he have saved Spock? Yes. Spock was one of his closet and dearest friends and Jim couldn't let his friend die. Sure he had disobeyed the prime directive but Spock was worth it, not just as chief science officer but he was always there when he needed him and despite Spock's utilitarian view of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" you had to take a selfish choice once in a while.

But Scotty. Jim dodged a man carrying a large package and continued walking quickly down to the hanger. Scotty, Jim needed him on board. Chekov was good at physics, and very talented, but he wasn't Scotty. He had no idea how long it would take to get the repair sorted out and it worried him deeply that they could potentially be stranded with Klingons firing at them, it could be the Kobayashi Maru all over again but there wasn't a cheat patch.

Then there was the new science officer; Carol Wallace. Jim was nearing the shuttle, his pace slowing. Carol a brilliant, beautiful science officer. He hadn't requested a new officer but he was glad all the same that she was there. A new pretty face aboard the Enterprise and a brain to match, Jim would've liked to sit her down and talk to her about physics and other things but right now wasn't the time. Jim had bigger things to think about.

"Jim." Spock said walking up behind Jim. "We're nearing Kronos space."

Jim nodded, "Spock I want you and I to go down to the shuttle, take off the uniform I don't want the Klingons to know our allegiance." Jim threw a bundle of clothing at the two red shirt officers standing next to their shuttle. "Put these on." He told them.

"Captain!" A voice called from above. Jim and Spock looked up, it was Uhura. She looked at Jim before making her way down the catwalk to the shuttle.

"You asked her to join the party?" Spock asked Jim, his monotone voice never wavering although Jim could sense that Spock was afraid slightly.

"Yes. She speaks Klingon." Jim pointed out.

"It's a little rust but it's good." Uhura admitted, trying not to look at Spock.

"Good. This won't be a problem between the two of you, will it?" Jim said looking at them both.

"No." Uhura said, brushing past Spock and walking into the shuttle.

"Unclear." Spock said to Jim.

They walked into the shuttle, the red shirts behind them. The door shut closed, and Jim sat down in the middle chair and pushing the button to strap himself in. Uhura was already sitting in one of the chairs, causing Spock to sit in the remaining chair; his back would be to Uhura. Jim hoped that they could keep their bickering to a minimum, they needed to focus.

The shuttle entered the Klingons atmosphere smoothly; Uhura and Spock sat in silence however it was now comfortable silence replacing the tension felt earlier. Jim was glad that they had somehow managed to sort things out, or something. It was hard to tell with Spock. The red shirts hadn't said anything, instead focusing on the weapons they had aboard the craft and monitoring the fuel cells. Sulu by now should have sent Harrison a warning message to surrender. Everything was running smoothly.

"Captain." One of the red shirts said. "We're being fired at!"

"I thought you said this area was uninhabited!" Uhura yelled.

"It must have been a patrol!"

Spock turned to look at Jim. "We don't have any offensive capabilities captain."

"Give me all the fuel cells," Jim ordered. "We'll try to outrun it!"

It continued like this, their smaller craft trying to outrun the Klingon, twisting and turning, narrowly avoiding the Klingon's photon blasts. There was a narrow entrance through part of the Klingon's old infrastructure.

"I don't think we'll fit!" Uhura yelled, noticing what Jim was about to do.

"We'll fit!" Jim yelled, turning on the thrusters of the craft and turning it sideways. The ship banded against the tight walls, some of the panelling coming off of the craft. They were out of the narrow alley.

"I told you we'd fit."

"I don't think that qualifies." Spock pointed out.

"Did we out run them?" Jim asked.

"I don't know captain. They could be blocking our sensors." Uhura replied, tapping out a command on her screen. A spotlight hit the craft, then another and another. "Shit," Jim whispered.

"They're hailing us captain. They want us to meet them." Uhura said, one finger pressed into her earpiece.

"No, it's too risky."

"Please captain. They'll kill us if we don't. Maybe if we tell them they could help, they believe in honour. Look, you brought me because I speak Klingon. Let me speak Klingon." Uhura said defiantly. Jim nodded. Uhura stepped out of the craft, shoulders back and staring straight ahead. She walked towards the Klingons.

Spock and Jim exchanged a look. Hopefully the Klingons would accept and help them. If not then they were going to have to fight them and John Harrison. Or Harrison could slip away, it was all chance. The Klingon leader grabbed Uhura by the throat, lifting her off of the ground. Spock jumped out of the craft, phaser in his hand, firing at him. Jim and the two red shirts followed. A phaser shot over Jim's head and hit a Klingon, killing him instantly. Jim turned, it was Harrison, pulling his hood down so he could see better, he glanced at Jim for a second before opening fire on the Klingons.

Jim crouched behind some rubble, assessing the situation. Harrison was helping them fight Klingons now? He got up, grabbling momentarily with a Klingon before head-butting him then shooting him. The red shirts were nowhere to be found. "Uhura!" Jim heard Spock call. She had picked up one of the Klingon weapons that had been dropped, stunning one of the Klingons repeatedly. Spock appeared next to her, pinching the Klingon hard on the shoulder. Harrison jumped down from where he had been standing, killing the final Klingon before walking over to Jim.

"How many torpedoes?" He asked.

"What?"

"How many torpedoes have you got locked onto this location?"

"All of them." Jim said, confused. Harrison threw his weapon to the ground.

"I surrender."

"Ah good." Jim said, half smiling before retracting his hand and punching Harrison repeatedly. The other man stood there, not bothering to defend himself.

"Jim!" Uhura said, bringing him back to the reality of the situation. Jim stopped, out of breath, his hand aching.

"Take him onto the ship." Jim ordered, walking back to the craft.

* * *

Spock and Uhura piloted the craft back to the Enterprise. Jim stood watching Harrison with a dark expression on his face. "Do you know what you've done?" Jim asked him.

Harrison looked up, his face perfect and unscathed despite the punches Jim had delivered. A piece of hair was in Harrison's eye. He flicked it away. "Yes. And I know exactly what you'll do with me."

"And what is that?"

"You'll make me pay for my crimes." Harrison said quietly, a hint of flintiness in his voice. Jim shifted uncomfortably. He picked up his communicator, flipping it open.

"Sulu. Can you get one of the historians to the holding cells please?"

* * *

Jim stood there alone in the room after they had taken Harrison on board with only a see through wall between him and John Harrison. He had ordered the woman on the controls out of the room. He wanted to talk to Harrison alone and uninterrupted.

"The only reason you're alive is because I'm allowing it." Jim stated. "And I checked your files, you only came up on the records two years ago, there was nothing on you before that, so tell me. Who are you? Because it would be a lot easier for you to just tell me."

"Why? So you can punch me over and over until your arm weakens?" Harrison said.

"Tell me who you are. How did you get into Star Fleet?"

"My name is Khan." The other man said, taking a step towards the glass wall. "I was designed during the Eugenics war to replace humans. I am better than you."

"At what?"

"Everything." Khan said smugly. "Marcus found my ship, the Botany Bay and had awoken me. He instructed me to design advanced weapons and vessels for him against the war for the Klingons."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because the Klingons are a threat to Star fleet, you saw what happened when you came across Romulan advanced weaponry. You were highly outmatched; you only got by on the skin of your teeth. Marcus doesn't want a repeat of what happened. He used my family against me." Khan breathed in. "The torpedoes you have on board, do you know what's in them?" Khan asked. Jim remained silent. "There is a small planetoid near here. If you don't believe me then go and open one up… I did what I did to ensure my family's safety. I'm sure you would do the same."

"No. I wouldn't kill innocent people."

"They are not all innocent people Kirk. You understand that."

"That still doesn't make it right!" Jim retorted, growing agitated.

"But vengeance is sweet, isn't it?" Khan smiled at Jim. The doors opened, Marla walked in holding a communicator and a recording device.

"I asked you to be here ten minutes ago." Jim spat at her. He was in no mood to act like a captain at the moment. "You do know about the Eugenics war don't you."

"I'm sorry captain. And yes, it was once of my modules for Star Fleet academy." Marla said her eyes downcast.

"Good. I'd like you to interview our guest. See what he says." Jim said, walking out of the room. Marla turned to look at Khan; he was staring at her with a sort of hunger in his eyes. "Shall we begin Ms McGivers?"


End file.
